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Queensland State Track Championships - NE
Chandler Velodrome, Australia, January 2-7, 2006
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Race 5 - January 6: Men/U19 Men: Keirin; Women/U19 Women: Points Race
Simonelli "smashes 'em" in the Keirin
Back to back gold medals for Warwick sprinter at Queensland Track Championships
By John Flynn in Brisbane, Qld
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Proving last night's sprint gold medal was no fluke, Warwick flier Ben Simonelli produced another sterling effort to win the final of the elite men's keirin at the Queensland Senior Track Cycling Championships in Brisbane, Australia.
After emerging largely unchallenged from the preliminary keirin rounds, Simonelli saved his best for the final, turning on the afterburners with just over one hundred metres to go on the bell lap.
The remaining five cyclists in the race could do little more than fight it out for the minor medals after Simonelli jumped clear. The Warwick sprinter, who moved to Sydney recently to train with former world champion Sean Eadie, is hitting form at the right time with the National Championships just around the corner.
"Yeah, not going too bad, smashed 'em, feels good," Simonelli told Cyclingnews as yet another Brisbane thunderstorm descended on the Chandler Velodrome. "It's really hard with the two keirins pretty close together, the semi's and the finals.
"I rode good position, stayed in front, kicked at the right time."
Ben's haul of two State Championship gold medals, an indication the advice of his new coach is already paying off. Tonight's race won on tactics as much as pure power.
"Sean always says one move, never two," Simonelli said of his well executed race plan. "I've got another three weeks or so to prepare (for Nationals), hopefully go a bit faster, improve on p.b.'s. It's been a fun week."
Fun week too for Sunderland
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There's little doubt the week in Queensland has also been fun for Western Australia's champion junior cyclist Scott Sunderland.
Along with the obligatory trips to Gold Coast theme parks, Sunderland's family holiday has included a couple of visits to the velodrome where one of Australia's most promising juniors came away with two gold medals.
Matched up once again tonight against his good friend Jeremy Hogg in the final of the under 19 men's keirin, Sunderland repeated his gold medal effort from last night's sprint.
"Yeah it was good to get two out of him," Sunderland said as the one-upmanship continued with Hogg post race. "The final was good, I had to draw sixth position which wasn't great at least I got the run off the bank, it was good quality with Jeremy and Byron (Davis) as well.
As for Hogg, the Junior World Championship medalist plans to go home to Rockhampton and tweak his program heading into the National Championships. "I guess I'll have to train a bit harder on my tactics," Hogg admitted "I need a bit more top end speed to come over the top of him."
Edwards continues Rocky medal haul
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In the other feature event of the night, the elite women's 25 kilometre points race, track endurance specialist Anouska Edwards continued the gold rush for the Rockhampton Cycling Club.
In a thoroughly dominant performance, Edwards took maximum points in all but three of the sprints during the points race. The win, her second for the championships, following on from a gold medal performance in the elite women's pursuit.
Racing against the elite women, under 19 Courtney Le Lay produced a burst in the final sprint to claim the silver medal, ahead of Lifecycle's Liz Young who took bronze. The Rockhampton cyclist eventually finished with nearly double the points of her rivals.
"No-one was coming around me so I just kept doing it," Edwards said of her largely one-sided win.
The 26 year old is now targeting the pursuit at the National Championships, but will need to drop her personal best time even further to be a contender. "I beat my p.b. by like 15 seconds, (in the pursuit) I was just planning to go as close to four minutes as possible and I went under," Edwards said.
"I don't know if I can medal at Nationals but I'm going to try to get down as low as I can."
Photography
For a thumbnail gallery of these images, click here
Images by John Flynn/Cyclingnews.com
- Keirin gold medalist Scott Sunderland closes in on Byron Davis
- Anouska Edwards, Loren Rowney and Josie Loane in the women's points race
- Josie Loane makes another effort
- Anouska Edwards of Rockhampton in action
- Liz Young is another tough competitor from the Lifecycle club
- Anouska Edwards powering towards a gold medal
- Under 19 rider Courtney Le Lay matching it with the elite women
- Courtney Le Lay with a silver medal ride
- Anouska Edwards on the drops
- Anouska Edwards keeping pace with Joanna Von Berky
- Argy bargy between Matthew Wood and Chris Simonelli in the Keirin repechage
- Rockhampton sprinter Jeremy Hogg was the winner of the bronze medal in the under 19 keirin
- All together now... Chris Wilson Matthew Wood Chris Simonelli and Jordan Roberts in the keirin repechage
- Ben Simonelli [bottom of frame] ready for action in the keirin finals
- Byron Davis just outside the medals in the under 19 keirin
- Matthew Wood survives the repechage before claiming bronze in the men's keirin final
- Ben Simonelli ready to prove his sprint gold was no fluke
- William Draffen getting psyched
- Ben Simonelli smashes the competition in the keirin final
- Joel Lewis on his way to silver for the Kangaroo Point club in the under 19 keirin
- Young keirin guns. Tyler Wright Joel Lewis Jeremy Hogg and Darcy Rosenlund in the under 19 keirin heats
- William Draffen of Townsville was just outside the medals in the elite mens keirin
- Jay Callaghan with Rockhampton coach Reg Tucker
- More keirin action with Jay Callaghan, Steven Storer, Alastair Hartley and Jordan Roberts in the keirin heats
- Billy Wright ready to drop the throttle as Jay Callaghan and Steve Storer follow the moto
- Christopher Wilson of Kangaroo Point
Results
Junior U19 Men Keirin Qualifying Heat 1 1 Byron Davis 2 Scott Sunderland Matthew Ledilly Lachlan Plane Malcolm Rudolph Heat 2 1 Joel Lewis 2 Jeremy Hogg Darcy Rosenlund Tyler Wright Repechage 1 Lachlan Plane 2 Malcolm Rudolph Darcy Rosenlund Tyler Wright Matthew Ledilly Final 1 Scott Sunderland 2 Joel Lewis 3 Jeremy Hogg 4 Lachlan Plane 5 Byron Davis 6 Malcolm Rudolph Elite Men Keirin Qualifying Heat 1 1 William Draffen 2 Daniel Mcculloch David Reid Christopher Simonelli Heat 2 1 Stephen Storer 2 Jay Callaghan Alistair Hartley Jordan Roberts Heat 3 1 Lindsay Mcmaster 2 Wade Cosgrove Brian Schmacker Christopher Wilson Heat 4 1 Benjamin Simonelli 2 David Miller Patrick Dennis Paul Jackson Matthew Wood Repechage Heat 1 1 David Reid 2 Paul Jackson Alistair Hartley Patrick Dennis Heat 2 1 Christopher Wilson 2 Matthew Wood Chris Simonelli Jordan Roberts Semi Final Heat 1 1 Lindsay Mc Master 2 William Draffen 3 David Reid Jay Callaghan David Miller Paul Jackson Heat 2 1 Benjamin Simonelli 2 Stephen Storer 3 Matthew Wood Wade Cosgrove Chrisopher Wilson Daniel Mcculloch Final 1 Benjamin Simonelli 2 Stephen Storer 3 Matthew Wood William Draffen Lindsay Mc Master David Reid Elite Women 25 km points race 1 Anouska Edwards (Rockhampton Cycle Club) 50 pts 2 Courtney Lelay (Balmoral) 27 3 Liz Young (Lifecycle) 21 4 Josie Loane (Lifecycle) 16 5 Loren Rowney (Cats) 11 6 Joanna Von Berky (Hamilton Pine River Wheelers) 1 DNF Alexandra Bright (Rockhampton Cycle Club) DNF Theresa Elmes (Ffast Cycle Club) DNF Kristin Gilbert (NRG Cycling) DNF Theresa Blumel (Sunshine Coast)
